PARK TOWNSHIP, MI -- A Lake Macatawa marina situated on property with a complicated history dating back to the 1800s is slated for redevelopment in the fall of 2018.
Ottawa County Parks and Recreation expects to spend nearly $2.5 million to downsize a commercial marina and expand a small park along the lake's north shore.
For some, it will mark a major improvement along an important stretch of waterfront for Holland residents and summer visitors alike. For others, a major blow to a close-knit community of boaters with decades of history at the location.
Parkside Marina operates on one of 12 pieces of property totaling 58 acres known as "Park 12" and later as "Historic Ottawa Beach Parks." Use of the 12 parcels as park land dates back to 1886, when the West Michigan Park Association was first platted. The cottage owners association and Ottawa County later fought a protracted legal battle over the properties, which ended with a 2005 settlement.
Ottawa County Parks Director John Scholtz said a number of public projects grew out of that settlement, including the a boardwalk along Lake Macatawa and another that provides access to overlooks of the area from Mount Pisgah.
"The marina part kind of waited until last," Scholtz said.
Parkside Marina, located along Ottawa Beach Road between the entrance to Holland State Park and the Holland U.S. Coast Guard Station, has been operated as a private marina for decades.
Elaine Blouw has been involved in the marina's management since 1981, and has been the sole proprietor since 1985.
Displaced boaters
When Blouw's current lease with Ottawa County expires on Oct. 15, she expects the county's plans will likely leave many of her seasonal boaters without a slip on the lake.
"I don't know where they're going to go," she said. "I don't think there are 80 boat slips available on Lake Macatawa. I just hate to see that all these boaters are going to be without a slip."
Parkside Marina leases the property from the county for $15,800 a year, Scholtz said.
"They've had this amazing deal for 30-plus years," he said.
After years of leasing the land to Blouw on a year-by-year basis, the county signed a five-year contract in 2012 intended to mark an end to the lease. After extending that agreement one more year, Scholtz said the county is now prepared to move forward with its vision.
"We want to get more public use of the property," he said.
Jay Timmer, who lives in nearby Waukazoo Woods, has rented a slip at Parkside Marina since 2005. Timmer said the county's proposal will break up a close-knit community of boaters, some of whom have spent their summers together for generations.
"I have watched children growing up with their parents here," Blouw said. "And now I'm watching them grow up with their children."
Since small boat owners often share use of their boats with friends and family, Timmer said the impact will be larger than the number of seasonal slips being eliminated.
"There are several hundred families that are going to have their summers ripped out from underneath them," he said.
A $2.4 million project
As soon as Parkside Marina's current lease expires in October, Scholtz said, the county hopes to launch a $2.4-million project that would upgrade and downsize the marina, eliminating about half of the current boat slips. Also increasing the number of slips to be used only by transient boaters, it would reduce the number available for rent on a seasonal basis from about 80 to 15.
Integrating the marina with a small waterfront park and adding a universally accessible kayak launch, the county parks director hopes to fulfill a longtime commitment to provide public parkland at the site. The changes have the added benefit, Scholtz said, of connecting the public Black Lake Boardwalk that currently detours around the marina and its parking lot.
"We just think a change needs to be made," he said. "We just want the public to get their maximum enjoyment out of the property."
Blouw said she rejected a proposal to run the walkway across the narrow strip of land dividing her home, located in the center of the marina property, from the water.
"It would be right by my steps," she said. "I said no to that."
Also at play is the appearance of the property, Scholtz said, in connection to onsite boat storage and the condition of some of the marina's infrastructure.
"It doesn't look as good as the rest of the site," he said. "The public doesn't get to enjoy it, and the revenues are minimal."
Blouw said she also rejected an offer from Ottawa County that would extend her lease if she was willing to install new year-round docks and eliminate the boat storage and launching services. But the combined cost of such improvements and loss of an important revenue source was not feasible, she said.
But Blouw contests any characterization of her as resistant or uncooperative with the county. Limited revenue, the lack of stability and permanence afforded by her lease with the county all made it difficult to deliver on requests of county officials, she said.
Seasonal slips downsized
There are others who have resisted the county's plan.
Boaters from Parkside Marina, in particular, have objected to the downsizing of the marina and petitioned the Parks and Recreation Commission to reconsider.
Scholtz said he understands how the longtime marina's loyal boaters must feel.
"Someone with a boat there is probably thinking, 'There won't be room for me,'" he said. "I get that."
Previous plans called for a county-run marina at the site that would have offered boaters 80 slips, close to the current number at Parkside Marina. But from a budgetary perspective, Scholtz said, the county ultimately could not justify such a plan.
As part of its agreement with the West Michigan Park Association, Scholtz said, the county is required to provide 15 boat slips for its cottage owners to use. That requirement has been honored in past seasons by Parkside Marina, he said.
The final plan for a new marina calls for 15 seasonal boat slips, five seasonal moorings and another 26 slips reserved for transient boaters.
Grant funding
Setting aside slips for boaters passing through Holland allowed the county to apply for a $643,000 boating infrastructure grant through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A marina that primarily serves transient boaters makes more sense for a government-run operation, Scholtz said.
"The transient marina is something we feel is a better fit for the government's role," he said.
The desire for that grant money helps explain why Ottawa County is focused more on transient boaters than seasonal boaters, Timmer said.
"Not because there's not room to build a marina with enough slips for the boats, but because Parks and Rec can't get grant money for seasonal slips," he said.
Other grants are also expected to help pay for the project, including a $291,000 Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant announced earlier this month and outstanding applications for two other state grants. Ottawa County Parks will invest $484,000 of its own funds, Park Township is expected to provide another $90,000, and the county will borrow another $844,000 -- bond sales that will be paid for with anticipated marina revenue, Scholtz said.
The proposed fees for seasonal slip rentals are $3,000 for a 30-foot slip, $4,000 for a 40-foot slip and $4,400 for a 45-foot slip, he said. Blouw said she current charges from $1,800 to $2,300, depending on boat size.
Nightly charges for transient boaters will be in line with other marinas in the state system, which set prices for the 2017 season that ranged from $19 to $152, depending on the marina and the size of boat.
Scholtz said early estimates suggest that, at roughly 50 percent occupancy, marina revenue will be enough to cover seasonal operating expenses and make payments on the bonds the county plans to sell. Though Ottawa County park millage funds might be used to improve the walkway and install public restrooms at the park property, the director said the county is committed to not supporting marina operations with property tax dollars.
Timmer said the proposed changes to the size and number of slips, prices and the new focus on transient boaters will all edge out those with smaller boats. He is skeptical there is enough demand for what the county will offer to provide the necessary revenue to offset operating costs. Larger boats will prefer larger marinas with more services and amenities, Timmer said.
Other grants the county is counting on that have not yet been approved include the Michigan Coastal Management Grant ($64,000) and the Michigan Boat Pumpout Grant ($20,000).
'Train has left the station'
Acting on a Dec. 6 recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners gave the plan their blessing on Dec. 26. Despite the opposition to the project voiced by some, the motion enjoyed unanimous support from all nine commissioners present for the meeting. Commissioners Allen Dannenberg and James Holtvluwer were absent.
One other factor still holding up the process is permit approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The application has been submitted, Scholtz said, but any work on the marina will await the Corps' approval.
"We would hope to start construction on Oct. 15, 2018," Scholtz said. "Then kind of work all winter and finish up in spring and take as long as we need to get it done."
The goal is to have the new county-run marina operational in time for the start of the 2019 boating season.
"We're hopeful that could happen," Scholtz said.
Timmer said he's skeptical about the county's timeline, but has resigned himself to the reality that the project is likely moving forward.
"The train has left the station," he said.
At this point, Blouw said she also feels the county's plan is "inevitable," though she said she wishes county leaders would have seen things from the perspective of her boaters.
"I would like them to consider the boaters that have been here for so many years," she said.
Timmer has written letters to county commissioners and spoke at meetings in opposition of the plan. He even drove back to Michigan from Texas to speak at a meeting earlier in December, though it was only after he arrived that he learned the issue wouldn't be considered until later in the month.
He feels his concerns and those of other boaters impacted by the changes have fallen on deaf ears, in favor of a "greater good" some believe will come out of the current plan for a new county-run marina.
Though he's not an opponent to a larger county-run marina with room for the current seasonal boaters, Timmer said the way Ottawa County has gone about the planned transformation of Parkside Marina has left a bad taste in his mouth.
"They're willing to flush the 81 years of history down the tube and they're willing to flush the little people with little boats and little political influence down the tubes," he said. "And that's too bad."
Scholtz said county officials have felt the pushback against the plan, but remain resolved the smaller, transient-focused marina and park space will ultimately be in the public's best interest.
"We think we'll have a much more public-friendly site and one that people will enjoy and, still, we will be serving the marina industry," he said. "We just want the public to get their maximum enjoyment out of the property."